Planes Toggle
Overview
Planes Toggle quickly shows or hides the primary work planes (1, 2, and 3) in a selected component. Use it when you need reference geometry for alignment, constraints, or inspection, then hide it again to reduce visual clutter.
If the component contains a user parameter named ShowPlanes, this command will also toggle that parameter. That parameter can be used by your own rules to control additional/custom work planes beyond the standard three.
How It Works
- Prompts you to pick one or more component occurrences in the active assembly (selection set allowed).
- For each selected component document:
- Attempts to toggle the ShowPlanes user parameter value.
- Sets work planes 1, 2, and 3 visibility to match the new state.
- If ShowPlanes does not exist or cannot be read/written, falls back to toggling based on the visibility of work plane 1, and then applies that state to planes 1, 2, and 3.
- Does not automatically change design view representations.
Usage Instructions
- Select one or more components in your assembly.
- Click Planes Toggle in the Configure panel.
- Confirm the primary work planes (1–3) are shown or hidden as needed.
- If you use a ShowPlanes-driven rule inside the component, verify any custom planes respond as expected.
Troubleshooting
- Some planes did not change: The component may not expose planes 1–3 in the expected way, or visibility might be controlled by a design view/representation.
- Custom planes did not toggle: This command only toggles planes 1–3 directly. For additional planes, ensure the component has a user parameter named ShowPlanes and a rule that uses it.
- Planes immediately toggle back: A rule, add-in, or representation may be overriding visibility. Review component rules and representations.
Examples
Toggle all planes in a component: Run the command to switch between showing and hiding all coordinate system planes.
Toggle custom work planes: Add a rule to your component to toggle visibility for specific named planes using the ShowPlanes parameter.
Example rule:
ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Top of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
Example rule to toggle work plane visibility. Each time you run Planes Toggle, these work planes along with the standard coordinate system planes will be toggled according to your rules.
- ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes(1).Visible = ShowPlanes
- ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Top of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
- ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Bottom of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
- ThisDoc.Document.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("Middle of Fitting").Visible = ShowPlanes
